Rocco
Filippini and Michele Campanella play Chopin in this extraordinary
recording offered to you by P&P Classica. lassica
Introduction
et Polonaise Brillante in C Major for Pianoforte and Violoncello,
op. 3.
When
he wrote this poloniase Chopin was nineteen years old and was
spending his holidays with Prince Antoni Radziwilli. This composition
was dedicated to the Prince, who was himself an amateur cellist,
and to his daughter Wanda, a seventeen year old, to whom Chopin
was giving music lessons "she is beautiful and it is a real
pleasure to put her delicate little fingers in the right position"
he confided to a friend. Before that date Chopin had written
a few polonaises for the pianoforte, one of which, written when
he was eight years old, had provoked the enthusiasm of the critics
in Warsaw who did not hesitate to declare at the time that they
thought they had before them a genius. Apart from his previous
experiments, it was indeed with the polonaise for the pianforte
and violoncello that Chopin laid down the secure foundations
for what was to come after, even though subsequently this form
of composition would be reserved to the pianoforte. Chopin often
saw this polonaise as a pleasing, sparkling "divertimento" designed
to entertain the listening audience in the salons. Composed
in 1829, in April of the following year Chopin added the "introduction"
to the piece to be played by the cellist Kaczynski. Chopin would
later dedicate this piece to Joseph Merk (who was born in Vienna
18.1.1795 and died in the same city on 16.6.1852), the famous
first cellist for the Opera Orchestra of Vienna who would later
hold the chair of violoncello at the conservatory of the Austrian
capital.
Sonata
for Violoncello and Pianoforte in G Minor, op. 65. I. Allegro
Moderato - II Scherzo. Allegro con Brio - III. Largo - IV. Finale.
Allegro.
Composed
between 1845 and 1846 and published in 1847, Chopin dedicated
this sonata to his great friend Auguste Joseph Franchomme. Indeed,
with this friend he performed three movements from the piece
in one of his last Paris recitals which was held at the Sala
Pleyel. Franchomme (who was born in Lille on 10.4.1808 and died
in Paris on 21.1.1884) was a very famous cellist who had a brilliant
career. In 1887 he held a position of importance in the Orchestra
of the Opera, a year later much the same at the Théatre Italien,
then a high appointment with the "Societé des Concerts du Conservatoire",
before going on to finish his professional activity as Professor
at the Paris Conservatory. Franchomme worked with Chopin on
a number of works, including the composition of the "Grand Duo
Concertant in E Major on Themes from Robert le Diable". In the
sonata op. 65 Chopin exploits the great resources of his creativity
and inventiveness with the piano and places them at the service
of the special characteristics of the violoncello. The initial
theme of the first movement (allegro moderato) is introduced
by the pianoforte which then leads on to the "sweet" entrance
of the violoncello. A constant alternation of different musical
situations then follows: moments of great force and lyricism,
moments of languor, sudden virtuouso advances involving cascades
of notes, and all this in an interwoven lattice which has no
pause. We hear the whole Chopin we expect to encounter but we
also hear, with regard to the part of the violoncello, the intervention
of the "specialist". The second movement (scherzo) begins in
decisive and brilliant fashion and here the melody is led for
long periods by the violoncello; the "cantabile" which precedes
the finale is captivating. A dialogue based upon "proposals
and answers" which are closely connected to each other in a
rarefied atmosphere characterises the largo of the third movement.
The finale (allegro) opens with the usual presentation of the
pianoforte which is taken up by the violoncello which then introduces
a new musical stimulus by proposing it to begin with in a rather
simple way which then becomes more complicated. In the background
of the whole movement is to be found in a more or less clear
and limpid fashion the unequivocal suspicion of a tarantella.
Grand
Duo Concertant in E Major on Themes from "Robert le Diable"
for Violoncello and Pianoforte.
"Robert
le Diable" is the work on a grandiose scale with which Giacomo
Meyerbeer (born in Tasdorf, Berlin on 5.9.1791 and died in Paris
on 2.5.1864) managed to command the attention of the critics
and the general public. The ingredients to ensure that this
work became almost a vogue phenomenon to be followed are all
present and are very easily identified: the Gothic subject which
forms the basis of the plot, its setting in exotic Sicily, a
writing style as applied to the text which was clearly innovative,
and melodies of an Italian taste. Here we are in the Sicily
of the thirteenth century and events take place in Palermo.
Robert, the son of a Norman Princess, lives with a friend of
his who is a rather sinister figure, or more precisely Bertram
(who is actually the devil and who would also turn out to be
his father) whose aim is to damage Robert's soul. In this enterprise,
however, he would fail. Performed, after many years of work,
at the Opéra of Paris on 21 November 1831, this work immediately
obtained an enormous success. Many pianists of the epoch, much
influenced by it, took on the difficult task of rewriting its
principal arias. The likes of Thalberg, Herz, Adam, Kalkbrenner
and Liszt were joined by Chopin, newly arrived in Paris, who,
together with his friend the cellist Franchomme, took the motifs
of this work, which had deeply touched his sensibility, and
reworked them in his unmistakable style.
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